South African schools have become battlegrounds and an environment for drug-trafficking, Deputy Minister of Social Development Jean Swanson-Jacobs said on Monday.
Swanson-Jacobs was addressing guests at the Ke Moja Hip-Hop Anti-Drug Campaign at Mannah Guest house in Kempton Park.
”Drug-trafficking has become the order of the day in our schools,” she said.
She said drug and alcohol abuse was a serious social challenge in the country.
Drug abuse was the new threat to the development of South Africa’s children, said Swanson-Jacobs.
This abuse was the cause of high levels of violence, crime, road accidents, youth depression and suicide.
”This campaign should be seen as our national strategy to combat and prevent substance abuse, focusing specifically on prevention and early intervention programmes,” she said.
The department intended to use hip-hop music as a transformation tool because it was the language youth understood.
”Over the past 30 years hip-hop has grown to become the most popular music genre in the world today amongst the 14 to 24 age group”.
She said the aim of the gathering was to consider how the Ke Moja Campaign could use hip-hop culture to its advantage.
The structures of the central drug authority, such as provincial drug forums and local drug action committees, should both facilitate and be strengthened by this campaign, Swanson-Jacobs said. — Sapa